Two clocks, two exemptions
French real-estate capital gains carry two separate tax layers for non-residents. The first is the income-tax CGT, today at 19%, which runs on the taxable gain after the income-tax taper. The second is the social charges, at either 7.5% or 17.2% depending on your healthcare coverage, which runs on the taxable gain after a slower social taper. Each layer has its own finish line. Income-tax CGT is fully cancelled after 22 full years of ownership, because the taper caps at 100% at that point. Social charges are fully cancelled after 30 full years, because the social-charge taper caps eight years later. The two lines reach zero at different years, which is why sellers sometimes end up paying social charges on a property they wrongly assumed was fully exempt.
What is still due, year by year
The clearest way to see the two exemptions is to plot the remaining taxable share rather than the taper itself. Before year 22, a share of the gain is still hit by the 19%. Between 22 and 30, the 19% line is already zero but a shrinking share is still hit by the 7.5% or 17.2%. At 30, both are zero. The chart below shows each curve falling to the axis at its own finish line.
View data as table
| Holding period | Still taxable (income tax) |
|---|---|
| 5 years | 94% |
| 10 years | 64% |
| 15 years | 34% |
| 18 years | 22% |
| 20 years | 4% |
| 22 years | 0% |
| 25 years | 0% |
| 30 years | 0% |
View data as table
| Holding period | Still taxable (social charges) |
|---|---|
| 5 years | 98.35% |
| 10 years | 91.75% |
| 15 years | 76% |
| 18 years | 67.75% |
| 20 years | 58% |
| 22 years | 52% |
| 25 years | 28% |
| 28 years | 8% |
| 30 years | 0% |
How the years are actually counted
The count runs from the exact acquisition date in the original deed to the day of signature of the new deed. Whole years only, so a sale dated one day before the 22nd anniversary misses the finish line on income-tax CGT by an entire 4% slice; one day after, the gain is fully exempt. The notaire checks this anniversary before locking the signature date, and a good representative does the same as a sanity check. For inherited property, the clock starts on the opening date of the succession, not on the attestation immobilière. For a gift, the clock restarts on the gift date, so careful reading of the chain of title matters when a family has passed the property around over decades.
The final sprint between 22 and 30
The eight-year window between the two finish lines is where the tax bill collapses fastest. At 22, you are free of the 19% but still owe social charges on roughly half of the gain. At 25, that falls to around a quarter. At 28, to under a tenth. At 30, to zero. Three extra years in this window typically save more than the same three years saved anywhere earlier on the curve. If you hold a property that is already past 22 and you are not under financial pressure, the arithmetic often argues for waiting a couple more years, especially if your social-charge rate is the higher 17.2%.
Worked example
Elizabeth, a UK resident, sells a Provence farmhouse bought in 1998, 27 years ago at signature. Acquisition price €180,000, sale price €620,000, eligible works of €40,000, notarial fees on purchase €13,500. Taxable gain before any taper: €386,500. Income-tax taper at 27 years: already 100%, so the 19% line is zero, no surtax. Social-charge taper at 27 years: 76% reduction, so 24% of €386,500, or €92,760, is still in the social-charge base. Elizabeth qualifies for the 7.5% solidarity rate through her UK post-Brexit S1 coverage; social charges are €6,957. Without the 22-year finish line, she would also owe €73,435 of income-tax CGT plus a surtax; the long hold saves her close to €80,000. Two more years of ownership would shrink the remaining €6,957 to under €3,000, and five more would bring it to zero.
Pitfall to avoid
The pitfall is reading the 22-year finish line as a full exemption. Many sellers see the income-tax CGT disappear at 22 and assume the sale is tax-free from that point on. The social-charge layer still runs until year 30, and on a large gain at the 17.2% rate, the residual bill is not trivial: ten or fifteen thousand euros are common at year 23 on a €300,000 gain. Read both curves together before committing to a signature date, and do not rely on expat-forum shorthand that conflates the two.
Pro tip
If your property is sitting between year 21 and year 23, run the numbers for three candidate signature dates with your representative: one just before the 22nd anniversary, one just after, and one six months later. The first two dates differ by less than a week but by several percentage points of reduction on a large gain. The third lets you trade calendar time against market timing. A one-page spreadsheet with the three scenarios is usually enough to convince the buyer to wait the extra fortnight; sharing the arithmetic openly helps, because the saving is real and the buyer often sympathises.
Key takeaways
- Income-tax CGT is fully exempt after 22 full years of ownership.
- Social charges are fully exempt after 30 full years.
- The two tapers move at different paces, with a crucial eight-year window between them.
- Whole years are counted from deed to deed; a single day matters at the anniversaries.
- Inheritance and gift restart rules for the clock differ, check the chain of title.
- Full exemption on the tax does not automatically remove the 2048-IMM or the representative requirement above €150,000 per seller.
Frequently asked questions
Does reaching full exemption also remove the accredited representative requirement?
In substance yes, because the taxable gain is zero, but formally the 2048-IMM still has to be filed with a nil calculation, and the notaire may still require a representative signature on a sale above €150,000 per seller. Many accredited firms charge a reduced flat fee for zero-CGT filings; ask for that rate specifically.
What about the surtax on high gains when the property is fully exempt?
The surtax on large taxable gains runs on the income-tax taxable base. Once the 22-year threshold is crossed and that base is zero, the surtax is zero as well. A long-held property cannot trigger the surtax even on a nominally huge price.
If I sell between 22 and 30 years, what exactly do I pay?
Only the social charges on the remaining taxable base, which shrinks year by year until it reaches zero at 30 years. Income-tax CGT is already at zero, so there is no 19% line and no surtax. Many sellers use this window as their natural exit, because the net yield is close to what a tax-resident gets on a principal residence.
Do works I did over the years change the 22 and 30-year dates?
No. Works add to the cost basis under the rules of Article 150 VB, but they do not restart the holding-period clock. The clock only restarts on a new acquisition, not on a renovation, not on a mortgage refinancing, not on a change of furniture arrangement.